My pleasure. Good luck!

100mg of gabapentin

I see, that's pretty far on the "light" end of dosages.

Respiratory depression sounds kinda scary...

It's not great lol.

The biggest risk of gabapentin is adding it to something else that already causes respiratory depression. Almost all gabapentin OD fatalities (which are already relatively few) involved combining it with other drugs that have higher risks. It's not at all a common issue with gabapentin on its own - even at doses 8-12x what you are currently taking.

Uh which questions specifically

Anything about medications and their interactions. Including addiction risks, adverse reactions to watch out for, dietary concerns, etc.

Hmm, checking again now, I do see user reports of withdrawal symptoms. I don't know about super addictive, but there does appear to be an addiction/physical dependence potential and it could be particularly strong for certain individuals. With that said, in literature it is considered to have a comparatively low risk, and the primary alternative is benzos which are notoriously problematic.

One nice thing about gabapentin is that your body can only process so much of it, and you will develop a tolerance at high doses. So there isn't much reward for chasing the high (if you're one of people that gets a high from it) with higher and higher dosages. After a certain point, you basically have to quit it for awhile if you want it to have an effect again. This limits the abuse potential.

Pregabalin (a modified form of gabapentin) is an entirely different story. It is reported to be addictive, with more OD potential, and worse withdrawal symptoms. The body does not limit its metabolism. It's by no means the most addictive drug, but it is known to be much more troublesome than gabapentin.

I don't know how much gabapentin you are taking, your medical history, your age, your body weight, etc. I'm also not a doctor. However 0.3mg of melatonin is a very light dose and melatonin has a good safety profile. If you're at a few 100s of mg of gabapentin and don't experience any respiratory depression from it or 0.3mg of melatonin, then I believe they should be safe together. Refrain from driving if you feel drowsy or otherwise altered. Generally it's things like benzos, z-drugs, heavy alcohol consumption, opiates, and prescription sedatives that you need to be more careful about mixing with.

If you can, it's a good idea to get comfortable asking your doctor and pharmacist these questions, as they will be the best-equipped to answer them. Of course, doing some research of your own and asking around for others' experiences can also be good for additional context.

It's one of the safest and least habit forming options for anxiety afaik.

It doesn't work for everyone, though, and you should be careful about mixing it with any strong sedatives.

Yes, mpox = monkeypox.

I don't really know anything about the virulence, etc.

As far as I'm aware, Dems are allergic to foreign policy and just continue with whatever the Reps have set in motion.

Which of course means that US voters don't even have an alternative to vote for. I fully expect Harris to be more of exactly the same, and that protests and criticisms of her or Biden or whoever will continue to hold absolutely zero influence over policy.

This is what happens when business interests become "national security."

I agree the empire will increasingly lash out (and also lash inward), especially with climate change factored in.

It appears to me that China is playing the long game - but I'm not convinced this is the best strategy given the circumstances of climate change and an ailing superpower. Still, they maintain what is in my opinion the most rational foreign policy of all major powers. And they have a lot of room to pivot their strategy, much more so than the US which is entirely beholden to its corporate interests.

mpox has spread to 13 countries in Africa now.

This Al Jazeera article claims a 160% increase of cases as compared to last year: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/13/africa-cdc-declares-mpox-a-public-health-emergency

Haudenosaunee (Confederacy). Iroquois is from French, supposedly derived from another tribe's name for the group.

Yeah, probably shouldn't share the link then, but thanks for sharing the story!

If it's nigori or otherwise unfiltered it could be a rice or yeast allergy, if it's aged or barrel conditioned it could be a histamine response.

It could be a million different things, though.

Wow. Great story. A lot to unpack.

If the hiking blog is good could you share a link? I'm feeling nostalgic.

You caused me to look up per capita emissions and... well, the scale alone is rather horrifying.

It looks like North Americans emit almost 10x as much per capita as their neighbors in South America. And this is territorial emissions, meaning it doesn't count emissions involved in the manufacturing of imported goods. (I'm sure if you shifted the emissions accounting to the point of consumption then China would look waaay better.)